Career Development Finance Ltd

Career Development Finance state on the front of their agreement:

You must pay default charges as follows:

* On each occasion when you fail to pay a repayment in full when due, a Late Payment Charge of £22.50

* On each occasion when a claim for payment by any other method is not met when the claim is first presented, or a cheque is dishonoured a return charge of £15.00



I'm writing to their legal department to clarify this today. The £15.00 charge I can understand, if their bank makes any charges to them or they need to review it. In my mind it's a little excessive, but could possibly be justified as this isn't totally automated like it is in the case of the banks.

The late payment charge of £22.50 is what concerns me. If this isn't an in terrorum charge, what is? It quite clearly states "late payment charge" and appears to be in addition to the £15.00 - now, if the £15.00 is liquidated damages, then there's only one thing the £22.50 can be.

After checking with her superior, the drone I spoke to said she wasn't able to answer my questions about that, and (probably correctly) advised me to put my questions in writing addressed to the legal department. I shall do so.

Stay tuned to this thread.

Legal Department

Dear Sirs,

I have noticed something on my finance agreement which appears to be incorrect, and wish you to clarify the situation from your point of view.

The agreement would appear to be governed by contract law, which gives a party in the event of a breach on either side the right to recover liquidated damages from the other party to cover the costs of the breach. Looking at the information under the heading “Key Information” on the front of my loan agreement (agreement number AA1276359) I can see two charges, one for the costs of return of payment in the sum of £15.00 and another for simply being late which is £22.50.

I can understand the £15.00 as this is clearly liquidated damages – what I cannot understand is the £22.50 charge, and how this is calculated. I therefore would appreciate you setting down in writing the circumstances under which this charge would be made, and how the charge is calculated and applied.

I look forward to your swift response.

Yours faithfully,